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Dandelions

Dandelions

The miraculous in the common by Jennifer Grant THE GROUNDSKEEPERS have just mowed the park. Walking across the meadow, I kick at thick, matted clumps of grass. Then I spy, a few feet ahead of me, a lone dandelion standing up straight. About six or seven inches tall,...

Clinging and letting go

Clinging and letting go

by Lisa A. Smith I’VE BEEN A MOTHER since the week of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. I was on a work-related training trip out of state, my heart already full of emotion, when I first heard about the shooting. My husband and I had been trying to start a...

Rocking chair prayers

Rocking chair prayers

Sacred time at the back of the sanctuary by Kimberly Knowle-Zeller Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. —1 Thessalonians 5:16‑18 Excerpted from The Beauty of Motherhood:...

And why has this happened to me?

And why has this happened to me?

The visit of Mary to Elizabeth by Audrey Novak Riley MARY SET OUT AND WENT WITH HASTE to Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, she was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women! And why has this happened to me,...

The hour is coming . . .

The hour is coming . . .

Jesus said it is now by Lindsay Hardman Freeman Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? John 4:11 SO SAYS THE SAMARITAN WOMAN—a skeptical, assertive, bright soul— who argues with Jesus as do few others in the Bible. Authentic...

Feet tell the story

Feet tell the story

by Jennifer M. Ginn A mom living, and dying, with purpose MY MOTHER WAS ALWAYS on the way somewhere, her heels clicking briskly across the church parking lot or her Daniel Green slippers clomping on hardwood floors toward the kitchen. She moved with purpose you could...

Moms and miracles

Moms and miracles

by Elizabeth Hunter CAN YOU REMEMBER A TIME when a mom or another mother figure turned and gave you “the look”? That look may have communicated something like, I’m not worried about what you just said. And you are going to help me with this now. At the wedding at Cana...

Breathe on us

Breathe on us

Jesus overcomes all barriers.. by Angela !Khabeb YOU ARE PROBABLY FAMILIAR with the story of “Doubting Thomas.” Thomas is a man on a journey of faith, known by a moniker that he did not really earn. Thomas is the person who basically tells the other disciples: “Let’s...

My body is not a prayer request.

My body is not a prayer request.

Don’t conflate disability with suffering. by Amy Kenny I AM CERTAINLY NOT THE FIRST PERSON to think of God as disabled. Nancy Eiesland, who pioneered disability theology, imagined God in a sip-and puff wheelchair. After a friend declared that her disability would be...

Set free

Set free

God’s law connects us to the lives and needs of others. by Katie Hines-Shah IT WASN’T SO LONG AGO that they were slaves. It’s important to remember this, as we read about God’s gift of the Ten Commandments and the people who received them. For generations, the Hebrew...

Light in the darkness

Light in the darkness

by Lisa A. Smith WHEN I WAS A CHILD, I thought the Ten Commandments weren’t for me. I considered myself a responsible and rule-keeping kid, and these rules seemed so easy. Since I hadn’t murdered anyone, stolen anything, worshiped Babylonian gods or coveted anyone’s...

Our holy longing

Our holy longing

Making my peace with death and life By Elise Seyfried MANY YEARS AGO, on an elementary school field trip to a local nature center with my daughter Julie, I volunteered to put my hand under an electron microscope for observation by the class. What on earth was I...

Our liberator

Our liberator

by Catherine Malotky OH, GOD, IT WAS YOU WHO BROUGHT US OUT of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You are my source and my liberator. I need your law because being true to you is illusive and hard, a daily commitment, and a path I so easily reframe in my...

God’s gift list

God’s gift list

A LIST IS A HUMBLE THING, more dull than not, the basic workhorse of our everyday plans and aspirations. Lists help us navigate everything from “to do’s” to groceries. Living on scraps of paper, tucked within purses and pockets, they earn their keep but aren’t the...